This invention relates to mixing apparatus, and more particularly to such mixing apparatus mounted to self-propelled vehicles, such as tractors.
Mixing apparatus, as for concrete, is well known and has long been in use. Various well known types of such apparatus have included those mounted to dollies which may be towed by a vehicle from place to place, and those large units which are mounted onto heavy duty truck chassis which may be driven from place to place. While the operation of all of these types of units is relatively conventional and straightforward, loading the mixing drums with the necessary portland cement, sand, gravel and water has generally required either substantial additional equipment or strenuous physical work by operators. In the case of the truck mounted apparatus, it has been common practice to build large loading hoppers and conveyors at a base site to which the truck can back up for loading. With the smaller equipment, it has generally necessitated either shoveling the materials into the mixing drum itself, or into a skip which may be lifted to a loading position, as illustrated in Gilson U.S. Pat. No. 1,685,529, Wagner et al. U.S. Pat. No. 2,327,473 or Beardsley U.S. Pat. No. 3,502,306. However, each of these skip loading structures has still required that the material be either shoveled into the scoop, or carried to it in wheelbarrows or other conveying means.
While there have been several types of tractor mounted equipment, such as Wagner et al. U.S. Pat. No. 2,664,276 and Bolt U.S. Pat. No. 2,815,195, most of the equipment has been for either stationary use, or has been of large scale for use on large trucks. This has created a need for convenient, self-propelled small units which may be utilized by a single person operating a vehicle such as a conventional farm tractor.